Apple iPad Joins Gaming World?
Apple sure is blowing some people away with the new iPad tablet they officially announced on Wednesday. Owners of the new device will be able to read books with ease, turn their tablet into canvas, use it to watch videos and play music. Oh yeah…one more thing - they’ll be able to play games?
So now Apple is looking to get a piece of the gaming world, and this is all starting with the iPad? Well…not quite. This new product is extremely thin and lightweight, which means that people won’t mind taking it with them wherever they go, but will this outweigh the fact that the battery life won’t allow long sessions of playing and dropping it could prove to be disastrous?
Yes, the iPad will be able to play some games, but it will only have a single processor, an 1GHz Apple A3 chip. This won’t be able to play hard core games, which typically need a 2GHz processor or more. Plus, the device will only run for 10 hours, but if running a game full-out this may be cut down to just 3 hours - hardly enough time to make anyone meet their maker. This is notably less battery life than the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS series.
The bottom line….for $499 (16GB version) this is not a device for people who are looking to play games on a hand-held system - get a DSi or PSP instead. However, this is a great product for anyone who wants to take their work with them wherever they go and be able to read and play simple games during their down time.